WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he's imposing a 25% tariff on goods from Japan and South Korea starting August 1 as the Republican continues his pressure campaign on long-time U.S. allies who have not yet entered into new trade agreements with his administration.
Trump broke the news on July 7 via Truth Social, which is where he posted letters to the leaders of the two Asians economic powerhouses that warn of retaliatory and identical reciprocal increases "If for any reason you decide to raise your tariffs" on the United States.
Other letters from Trump are expected to focus on smaller U.S. trading partners. As many as 100 could be sent in total before July 9 , when the president's pause on higher tariff rates is due to expire. The administration said the rates would take effect on August 1 , if countries did not come to another arrangement with the United States before that time.
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The new date marks a delay of several weeks for the current deadline for the reciprocal tariffs to take effect. Trump unveiled his tariffs in early April, and then paused them after market turmoil. Last week, the president acknowledged that a White House pledge was proving to be complicated, which would see 90 different deals made in 90 days with America's trading partners.
The administration ultimately spent much of the time negotiating with large nations and countries with which it has the most substantial trade deficits. The president and his advisers were also focused on pushing through Congress the massive tax and spending bill Trump signed into law on July 4 .
Trump initially said he would impose higher tariffs on a number of countries on April 2 but paused them until 12:01 a.m. EDT on July 9 for most countries while his administration sought new trade deals. The so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs shook financial markets. They have since recovered, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq setting new records.
Since then, Trump has announced trade deals with Vietnam and the United Kingdom and a framework agreement with China . He left in place a baseline tariff of 10% on most other nations and also increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and introduced exemptions for some foreign-made car parts and automobiles. He also threatened
The president said on July 3 that because the process was easier, he would soon begin sending out regular batches of tariff letters dictating rates to sell products in the United States, rather than negotiating a large number of individual trade deals.
How many deals can you make?" Trump told reporters. "You can make more deals, but they are much more complicated." He added: "It's just so many countries.
Disputes remained with major trading partners such as Canada, Mexico, India and the European Union heading into this week, although the Treasury secretary of Trump said New proposals were flooding in. with less than 48 hours until the July deadline.
As of early afternoon on July 7, the only letters Trump had published were directed at South Korea and Japan, which he hit with roughly the same reciprocal tariff rates as those that had been announced previously.
More letters expected soon
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNN's "State of the Union" on July 6 that Trump Would send out letters to 100 smaller countries with which the U.S. does not have much trade, notifying them that they would face the tariff rate set by Trump in April and then suspended.
" President Trump Is going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that if you don't move things along, then on August 1 you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level "So I think we're going to see a lot of deals very quickly," Bessent told CNN.
Bessent denied that August 1 was a new deadline for negotiations. "We are saying this is when it's happening. If you want to speed things up, have at it. If you want to go back to the old rate, that's your choice," he told CNN.
Kevin Hassett, who heads the White House National Economic Council, offered some flexibility to countries engaged in sincere negotiations in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Contributing: Bart Jansen, Joey Garrison
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says 25% tariffs coming for Japan and South Korea as trade war escalates again
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